BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1922
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1922 (Lara)
As Amended May 2, 2012
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 11-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Jeffries, Achadjian, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Bonilla, Buchanan, Eng, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Carter, Galgiani, Miller, | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| |Portantino, Solorio | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the owners of heavy-duty diesel motor
vehicles to perform smoke opacity inspections and any necessary
repairs on or before December of each year.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, pursuant to Air Resources Board (ARB) regulations,
owners or operators of heavy-duty diesel motor vehicles to
perform regular self-inspections (smoke opacity tests) of
their vehicles to control excessive smoke emissions from and
tampering on heavy-duty diesel trucks and buses.
Specifically, the regulation requires owners of
California-based fleets to comply with all of the following:
a) All heavy-duty diesel-powered vehicles that are 6,000
pounds gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) or greater in
fleets of two or more (except those equipped with engines
that are four years old or less and those vehicles used
exclusively for personal use, such as motor homes), must be
tested annually with a smoke opacity meter;
b) All heavy-duty diesel-powered vehicles must meet the
applicable opacity standards of 55% for pre-1991 engines
and 40% for 1991 and newer engines;
c) All heavy-duty diesel-powered vehicles determined to be
AB 1922
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in noncompliance must be promptly repaired and brought into
compliance; and,
d) For each vehicle, records of the initial opacity test,
repair information, post-repair opacity results, and meter
calibration must be maintained for at least two years.
1)Confers authority to ARB to audit the inspection records of
all heavy-duty diesel-powered vehicles at the owner/operator
designated fleet location and to test vehicles for compliance.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible costs to ARB.
COMMENTS : The ARB Periodic Smoke Inspection Program (PSIP)
requires that diesel and bus fleet owners conduct annual smoke
opacity self-inspections of their vehicles (older than four
years) and repair those with excessive smoke emissions to ensure
compliance. These tests are usually performed at private
testing facilities using certified smoke meters. ARB randomly
audits fleets, maintenance and inspection records, and tests a
representative sample of vehicles. All vehicles that do not
pass the test must be repaired and retested. A fleet owner that
neglects to perform the annual smoke opacity inspection on
applicable vehicles is subject to a penalty of $500 per vehicle,
per year. PSIP requires testing for about 400,000 vehicles per
year representing about 14,000 California fleets.
In accordance with PSIP, once a vehicle has been tested, it must
be retested again within 12 months of the previous test
conducted. Consequently, a fleet owner could have vehicles
within its fleet that require testing throughout the calendar
year. This bill would allow an owner to consolidate the testing
of the vehicles in the fleet to be performed at one time,
thereby making it more convenient and efficient for the owners.
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0003782
AB 1922
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